Rising Workington Reds star Lamin Cham is out for up to seven weeks after tearing his ankle ligaments.

The young attacking midfielder came off injured in the opening pre-season friendly at Whitehaven Amateurs on Wednesday night.

And joint Reds boss Dave Hewson admitted it was an early blow in their eight-game pre-season schedule.

This weekend Reds head to Gretna, to take part in the Raydale Cup and Hewson said they would be cautious with their squad.

"Lamin tore his ankle ligaments so he could be out for up to six or seven weeks," confirmed joint manager Dave Hewson.

"We know there is always the risk of injuries in these games but we can't afford to start the season again with too many missing through injury.

"We have to be careful at this stage of pre-season as to how much game time we give the lads.

"So we will do similar to what we did against Whitehaven, we will play a first team on Saturday and then a reserve side will play on the Sunday."

He added: "We have only been back training a full week so it is a big ask to ask the lads to play two games in two days.

"It is all about getting prepared for the start of the league on August 12."

Reds face Annan Athletic on Saturday afternoon and then either hosts Gretna or Carlisle United Youth the following day.

They will be without Wednesday's double goal-scorer Scott Allison, Tom Fowler, Lewis Jolly and Stuart Johnson who are all unavailable.

"It will be a great test for us and it will be a good tournament. We have been involved before and we are looking forward to going back.

"We will just be using our squad to its full capacity."

A weekend ticket for the Raydale tournament at Gretna will be £12. Admission on the day will be £7.